Jessie Mae Hemphill

In the end, though, Hemphill decided to follow her musical talents into the blues sphere, primarily due to her belief that it would lead her to money faster. That being said, Hemphill’s early music career largely kept her in the Como area, with only a few small public performances occurring outside of the area. 1979 would also lead her (alongside Burnside and a few other artists), to be recorded in the first batch of singles that High Water produced in association with the National Endowment of the Arts.

On top of these early singles, Hemphill’s first album, She-Wolf, was picked up and released by the French label Disques Vogue, though they wouldn’t follow up on this French release due to their acquisition of the Chess records catalog, which included artists such as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Little Walter. Because of this the album wouldn’t be released in the United States until 1997. 

Despite this setback Hemphill would continue to perform in both the blues and the fife-and-drum worlds. The latter would net her a television performance on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood in 1982 alongside Abe Young and Othar Turner, two veterans of the scene. In the blues sphere, Hemphill primarily played alone, with a primary point of her style being a contraption designed to allow her to play tambourine with her foot while also playing a guitar accompaniment. After joining with High Water, Hemphill began to fill out a small band, though primarily this would involve a drummer and a second guitarist, the latter role being primarily held by Dr. David Evans. 

Following a very productive decade (which included at least four tours to Europe), Hemphill’s career came to a grinding halt due to a stroke in 1993. The stroke paralyzed her left side, thus preventing her from playing guitar. While she would largely retire from her blues career at this point, she would still often perform, though usually only singing and playing her tambourine accompaniment. The 2000’s would bring a small string of releases and a major concert performance. She died in 2006 at the Regional Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee after facing complications from an ulcer.